Prepare for the return of rationing

The AA called it VP Day — Victory for Petrol. It was 1950 and Philip Noel-Baker, the minister of fuel and power, had just announced the end of fuel rationing.

Imposed in 1939 after the outbreak of the second world war, the abolition of rationing signalled a return to normality after an extraordinary time in history. Now rationing could be about to make a comeback.

An influential cross-party group of MPs last week published a 60-page report calling for the introduction of personal energy quotas as the best way to “radically and rapidly restructure our society” to deal “with the reality of diminishing access to energy”.

The report from the all-party parliamentary group on peak oil and gas, comprising 20 MPs from the main parties,…

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